Write Your Film Script in Hindi: Format, Script and Hinglish Dialogue That Reads Easy
Script writing in Hindi uses the same page as any screenplay: scene headings, action, character names and dialogue. Most writers keep the scene headings and action in English and write only the dialogue in Hindi. Then you make one decision, Devanagari or Roman letters for that dialogue, and you keep it on every page.
That's the whole format. The rest is how the lines sound.
The page is the same, the voice is yours
A lot of first scripts I read from writers outside Mumbai have a good story and a messy page. Scene one has dialogue in Devanagari, scene four switches to Roman Hindi, and by scene ten some lines are in English because typing Hindi got tiring. Reading it feels like changing buses three times to reach one place.
Nothing is wrong with the writer's Hindi. What's missing is a decision about how the page will look.
A Hindi film script doesn't need a separate format. The standard screenplay layout works fine. What it needs is a clear set of choices, made once, before you write scene one.
How do I write a film script in Hindi?
Start with the layout every screenplay uses.
Scene heading. Where and when. INT. or EXT., the place, DAY or NIGHT.
Action. What we see, in the present tense. Short lines. No feelings the camera can't film.
Character name. Above each speech, in capitals.
Dialogue. What the character says, under the name.
The screenwriter Anjum Rajabali, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India, described the ideal Hindi script this way: scene headings, action, transitions and character names in English, with the dialogue itself in Devanagari. That split is what I tell my students to start with too. The English parts are read by everyone on a set: the director, the cameraman, the production team, people from every state. The dialogue is read by the actor, and the actor needs to hear the character.
You can also write the whole script, action included, in Hindi. Nothing stops you. Just know who will read it. A script is a working document before it becomes a film.
Should dialogue be in Devanagari or Roman?
This is where most new writers get stuck, and the industry itself is split.
Javed Akhtar said at a session at the India International Centre in January 2024 that the film industry now writes Hindi dialogue in Roman script for most of the new crop of actors, because they can't read anything else. On the other side, actors like Viineet Kumar Siingh have said they ask filmmakers for their dialogue in Devanagari.
Rajabali, in the same Hollywood Reporter India piece, put the reason for Roman simply: most literate Indians were educated in English medium. The screenwriter Satyanshu Singh added that Devanagari can be hard for crew members from outside the Hindi-speaking belt, and that he writes Devanagari dialogue when an actor asks for it.
So both are real, working choices. Here is one line written three ways:
Devanagari: तू फिर से लेट है, यार। Roman Hindi: Tu phir se late hai, yaar. English: You're late again, man.
Look at what the English version loses. "Yaar" is not "man". The Hindi line has a friend in it, half annoyed, half fond. That's why you write dialogue in the language the character speaks.
My advice: pick by reader. If you're writing to send to a producer or a platform, Roman Hindi is easier for more people to read quickly. If you're writing for a director who works in Hindi, or you think better in Devanagari, write in Devanagari. Then stop deciding. Jo chuna, wahi har page pe.
What you cannot do is mix. A reader should never have to switch scripts mid-scene. Advertising taught me early that a script the client has to decode is a script the client doesn't buy. The idea gets lost in the effort of reading it.
Can I write a screenplay in Hindi and English together?
Yes, and most Hindi scripts already do, in two ways.
The first is the page itself: English action, Hindi dialogue, as above.
The second is inside the dialogue. People in India don't speak pure Hindi or pure English. A college student in Patna says "Bro, kal ka plan cancel, mummy ne mana kar diya." Your uncle says "Beta, settle ho jao pehle." That mix is not a mistake. It is how your characters talk, and writing it down cleanly is a skill.
Three rules I give my students for Hinglish dialogue:
Spell the way it's said, then stay consistent. In Roman Hindi there's no official spelling. "Hai" or "hain", "nahi" or "nahin". Choose one spelling for each common word and use it everywhere. Keep a small list on the side if you need to.
English words stay in English spelling. "Late", "plan", "mummy", "cancel". Don't write them in a Hindi-ised spelling in Roman script; it slows the reader. In Devanagari, write them as they sound, like "लेट" above.
Let the character decide the mix. A Delhi call-centre boy and a Banaras priest don't use the same amount of English. The ratio is part of their voice. I've written more about this in how to write dialogue that sounds real.
Exporting a clean script and registering it
When the draft is done, export a PDF. Never send a Word file to a producer. Fonts break, Devanagari can turn into boxes on someone else's computer, and your layout shifts. Open the PDF on your phone before you send it. If the Hindi reads clean on a small screen, it'll read clean anywhere.
Any good screenplay software will handle the English layout. If you write dialogue in Devanagari, check that your software supports it and that the PDF shows the letters properly. Scrite, an Indian screenwriting app, says it supports Hindi in Devanagari alongside English in the same document. Test whatever you use with one page before you write a hundred.
Then, before you share the script with anyone, register it with the Screenwriters Association (SWA). Registration is for members, and can be done at their Mumbai office or online. It is not compulsory, and it is not the same as a copyright office registration, but if anyone ever questions whose script it is, a dated SWA certificate counts as evidence that the script was yours on that date. I tell every student: register each draft, not just the first.
Try this
Take one page of your script. Rewrite all the dialogue in one consistent style: all Devanagari or all Roman Hindi, with your own fixed spellings. Then read the page aloud, every character, in their own voice.
You'll hear two things. Lines that sound like writing instead of talking. And lines where you changed a character's language without meaning to. Fix both before you touch page two.
Quick answers
How do I write a film script in Hindi? Use the standard screenplay layout: scene headings, action, character names and dialogue. Many writers keep the headings and action in English and write the dialogue in Hindi.
Should Hindi dialogue be in Devanagari or Roman? Both are used in the industry. Choose based on who will read the script first, then keep that one choice on every page.
Do I need to register my Hindi script before sharing it? It isn't compulsory, but registering with the Screenwriters Association gives you a certificate that counts as evidence if there's ever an ownership dispute. Do it before you send the script out.
Writing dialogue that sounds like your characters, in Hindi or English, is part of The Foundation of Storytelling, my live online course in Hindi and English.
Send me one page of your dialogue, rewritten in one style, on WhatsApp. I'll tell you which line still sounds written.
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